Thomas J Parlette
“Questioning Christmas”
Matthew 2: 13-23
12/28/25
One of my favorite Christmas specials is “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” It’s one of those classic stop motion shows the 1960’s and early 70’s, like “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “The Little Drummer Boy.” I was 7 years old when “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” premiered in 1970 – and that has always been my favorite.
I think that’s my favorite for several reasons. It has great original songs. The backgrounds are so detailed and meticulous, and its great story. But my favorite part about “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is that it answers a lot of questions about Christmas traditions.
In fact, right at the start of the movie, the Mailman/Narrator, voiced by Fred Astaire, opens some letter to Santa from kids around the world, and you hear their questions : Why does Santa wear a red suit? Why does he come down the chimney? Why does Santa have whiskers? Do reindeer really fly? Why do we hang stocking by the fireplace? Why does Santa live at the North Pole? A lot of questions – all of which are answered by the time the show is done. I think that’s why it is my favorite – I like questions to be answered, and I prefer my answers in form of a story.
Most of those questions center on the traditions of Christmas, not the actual Christmas story about the birth of Christ that we Christians tell each year. For skeptics of the faith, Christmas as tell it brings up its own set of questions, such as: Did the virgin birth really happen that way – How is that even biologically possible? What about all the angels in the story – do angels really exist, I’ve never seen one? Why would Joseph take his wife, nine months pregnant, on a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem – pregnant women do not like to travel, with good reason, it’s not safe. How did Jesus survive being born in a barn with all those animals – talk about unsanitary, that would never happen today.
Skeptics are often very well read – they know our story and that leads them to question everything about Christmas. “How could it happen like you say ?” as if this is a reason not the believe the story, – as if the “hows,” the mechanics of the story, matter to God. The question we should ask is “Why?” Why is the story told this way? Why does God choose to have the story of Jesus’ birth unfold as it does?
Matthew is actually the one telling this story, and he has very specific reasons for telling it this way. In the time of Jesus, all important people – like Kings and rulers and prophets – had unique birth stories. It was a technique used to say, “This person is special, this person will do great things.” Certainly Jesus fit that mold.
Matthew also tells his story this way because he wanted to show that Jesus, even though he was the Son of God – did not live a charmed life. He faced challenges, as did his family. When you look beyond the pretty pictures we paint of Bethlehem and the stable and the angels and the shepherds all present at the manger, you find a great deal of danger. The threats are ever present, like they are in this story for today, when Mary and Joseph are forced to flee with their baby to a foreign land to escape the massacre that’s coming at the hands of Herod.
Usually we spend these Sundays of Christmas basking in the afterglow of the Christmas story. We don’t tend to spend much time with the stories that complete the events of Christ’s birth. First we have this miraculous escape, after an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. The holy family hightails it out of the country, and flee, as refugees to Egypt.
When Herod realizes that his plan has fallen apart, he flies into a murderous rage and gives orders to kill all the boys born in Bethlehem, and the surrounding country, who were two years old and younger, just to make sure. Both of these unhappy circumstances took place to fulfill scripture that Matthew knew well – and so did the Jews he was telling this story too. They would have mouthed the words of those scriptures as Matthew told his story.
So, after Herod died, another angel shows up and tells Joseph it’s safe to go back home. So the Holy family made their way back to Galilee, to a town called Nazareth – again fulfilling what the prophets had said that, “He will be called a Nazarene.” Everything was falling into place just perfectly.
Matthew told his story in such a way as to answer all the questions the Jews at the time had about Jesus birth and whether he was the Messiah – Matthew gave them the answers to their questions in the form of a story.
Most often we focus on the comfort we receive from Christmas. The warm glow of lights, the presents, the Christmas cards, the food and the parties.
But if Matthew’s story teaches us anything, it is that that is not Christmas – that’s the holidays. They are two different things.
The holidays are all about the warm fuzzys, the decorations, the cookies, the feel-good Hallmark movies and all the rest of the stuff that our culture tells us we need to get into the holiday spirit. And all of that stuff has its place – I enjoy it all as much as anybody.
Christmas is about God coming to be with us – as one of us. That’s Christmas – the rest is holiday tradition, which is useful to put us in the mood to celebrate REAL Christmas, but they are different.
Christmas is about putting the Christ child at the center of our lives. It’s about the hope that comes to shine light in our darkness. Real Christmas is about letting God lead us into a foreign land, a land we are familiar with, but a land we are willing to journey to all the same because that’s where God is leading us.
The author and lecturer, Tony Campolo, likes to tell a story about what happened to his good friend Mike Yaconelli. Yaconelli used to talk about a deacon in his church who was slacking off on his “deaconing” duties, if you will. He just wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do as a deacon.
So, one day, Yaconelli says to this deacon, “I have a group of young people who go to the retirement home and lead a worship service once a month. Maybe you could drive them over there sometime.” And the deacon agreed, he could do that much.
The first Sunday the deacon was at the home, he was in the back with his arms folded as the kids were doing their thing up front. All of a sudden, someone was tugging at his arm. He looked down, and there was an old man in a wheelchair. He took hold of the deacons hand and held it all during the service.
The next month, he did the same thing. And the next, and the next.
Then, one month, the old in the wheelchair wasn’t there. The deacon inquired and was told, “Oh, he’s down the hall, right hand side, third door. He’s not doing well. He’s unconscious. He doesn’t have too much longer, but if you want to go down and pray for him, that would be fine.”
So the deacon went and there were tubes and wires hanging all over the place. The deacon took the man’s hand and prayed that God would receive this man, and bring into the next life as comfortably as possible.
As soon as he finished the prayer, the old man squeezed the deacons hand, and the deacon knew the man had heard the prayer. He was so moved that tears rolled down his cheek.
As he pulled his together and made his way out of the room, he bumped into a young woman, who turned out to be the old man’s daughter. She said, “Oh, I’m so glad you came. He’s been waiting for you. He said that he didn’t want to die until he had the chance to hold the hand of Jesus one more time.”
I don’t understand – what do you mean?
Well, my father would say that once a month Jesus came to visit. He would take my hand and hold it for a whole hour. I don’t want to die until I have the chance to hold the hand of Jesus one more time.” (1)
The Lord lead that deacon to a land he didn’t want to go – at first. But he followed God’s call, and became the presence of Jesus for an old man at a retirement home.
That’s Real Christmas – following the Spirit somewhere we never expected to go. You can question the nuts and bolts of Christmas and the finer points of the story of Jesus’ birth all you want – as this story shows, it’s been challenged and threatened from the very beginning. But it doesn’t matter. The story has held up for more than 2000 years, and it will hold up for 2000 more.
The point is wherever we go and whatever we’re doing, we are the presence, the hand of Jesus, for everyone we meet. For in Jesus, God has come to be with us – as one of us. That is more than the holidays – that is Real Christmas.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline.com, Tony Campolo. “Becoming what God intended you to be.” 30goodminutes.org.
